Services such as Google Maps provide users with the ability to view maps. They also provide businesses and other users with the ability to upload information that may be used to annotate the map. For example, when users search maps for local information, they may see information about businesses located in the area, such as the business' address, hours of operation, photos or products. This information may be shown as a pop-up window that appears on the map when an icon associated with business is clicked.
Google Maps is also capable of displaying street level images of geographic locations. These images, identified in Google Maps as “Street Views”, typically comprise photographs of buildings and other features and allow a user to view a geographic location from a person's perspective as compared to a top-down map perspective. The street level images tend to be taken at discrete locations.
The Google Maps service provides a variety of mechanisms that allow a user to change the perspective (such as location and angle) used to view the images. For example, the service overlays at least some images with a yellow line that indicates the orientation of the street relative to the perspective and provides a names of the street. When the user clicks on an arrow on the yellow line, a street level image at a different location is typically loaded.